Social Responsibility of Catholic 天主教徒的社會責任

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

你們該彼此相愛；如同我愛了你們，你們也該照樣彼此相愛。如果你們之間彼此相愛，世人因此就可認出你們是我的門徒。

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Notes and assignment for this week
今週筆記與功課

1. http://www.4shared.com/file/206362399/90464f9d/Social_Responsibility_of_Catho.html
   

家宜走了

上星期四下午, 家宜突然離開了我們. 她患有血癌,才三十八歲.

記得去年七月, 我在本堂策劃了"拯救家宜行動", 務求爲她尋找骨髓捐赠者. 當时我還未認識她, 但就是忙着策劃行動时, 感受到天主的呼唤, 决心参加RCIA.

到了今年一月, 她跟媽媽從多倫多搬來温哥華, 我成爲了她的家庭醫生. 她爲了保留生命, 和有一天能做骨髓移植的一絲希望, 勇敢地選擇做第四次化療(每次化療的療程大概十天). 很可惜, 化療最终不成功, 還勛害了她的心臓. 最近開始幫她准備善终, 谁知上星期四, 她喝了汽水後, 放一口胃氣出來, 心臓便停了. 她去的时候, 没有知覺, 没有痛苦, 家人都在身邊.

其實早在復活節前, 我做了第一次的九日敬禮, 求天主幫幫家宜. 心知道她應該没有希望了, 便祈求天主讓她最终的日子好過一點. 天主的安排真奇妙, 家宜這樣離開, 我相信天主真的聆聽到我的禱告.

我也該多謝家宜, 她帶給我很多好東西.

没有她, 我不會有现在的一班好友.

没有她, 我不會來到RCIA, 認識到你們.

没有她, 我不會從新認識天主, 感受祂的愛, 改善我的生活, 我的工作.

因為她, 超過一千名華人在加拿大登記成為骨髓捐赠者.

因為她, 我們從那一千名新登記的華人中, 為一名六歲小孩找到了吻合的骨髓.

為了她, 我們一班朋友會繼續宣傳華人骨髓捐赠的需求.

其實家宜跟媽媽的關係一直都不是很好, 一整天吵架, 两個都很要面子, 很顽固, 誓不底頭不認錯. 有时候看見她們這樣子, 已經时日無多了, 還不懂珍惜, 説聲"我愛你", 我覺得很可惜. 我更要多多感謝天主給我那麼好的家庭, 跟家人有那麼好的關係, 我該每天都珍惜和感恩.

家宜, 痛苦以經遠離你, 但願你安息, 早日返回天國. 我會為你和家人祈禱. 永遠懷念你.

THANKS

I feel so blessed that because I have joined RCIA this year, I know that I am not alone, and never will be, in this journey. I actually did pray for them that night, heehee.. , and will keep them in my prayer all the time. I will try to "forgive and forget", forgive is not difficult, I am not angry with them, forget is at a higher level. It doesn't mean that I can't forget how I got hurt, it is just the impact that still stay in the heart, I am sure it will be there for a while, not knowing what will happen, or what to do that they will listen a bit, I only hope that the conversation will be in a more peaceful way.

------ I definitely do not mind to try again!

Jessie, if you feel badly for your friends because they have misunderstood our Catholic faith, you should pray for them. Maybe they are lost sheep, and we should pray that they will find their way back to God.

When you are ready and have the courage, perhaps you can try meeting up with your friends again. I know it's not easy because they hurt you, but by offering love and kindness, you might end up helping them in the end. The sheep may be so lost that they won't know to come to God. Perhaps they need to see another sheep on the road, then they will follow. If they don't come, don't chase after them. This will only drive them further away. All you have to do is stand your ground, but do it with a smile.

Who knows if this will work. But at least we have to try. I think this is what Jesus would want us to do. It is the hardest to try to love the people who hurt us. That's why I think our journey as Catholics will never be smooth or easy. But who would want to walk down a flat and straight path all the time? That would be so boring! =)

MY FIRST CHALLEGE

I had my first challege after baptism on Thursday night, a friend of my friend kept questioning my religion in a very rude attitude, I understand that there are different people different voices in the world, I tried to stay calm, hoping that I could satisfy them, so there won't be any misunderstanding to Catholics, in fact, this was not they really wanted to listen. I was not angry, I just felt sad and being hurt.

I have to thank Daphne here, she reminded me that our journey to God will not be an easy one, we probably will encounter this kind of situation million times in our lives, so brothers and sisters, pray, pray to God, to give us strength, keep our faith, hope and love stronger.

加洲小姐的一句話

上星期日的美國小姐競選, 不知道你們有没有看? 通常我都不多留意選美節目, 但這次的美國小姐選擧發生了一件事情是值得天主教徒關注.

加洲小姐是大熱門, 她樣子漂亮, 身材又好, 應該是冠軍人選, 但她回答評判的問题时, 偏偏講了一句話讓她輸了給别人. 問她問提的評判是一位電視節目主持人, 也是一位公開同性戀者. 這位評判問加洲小姐, "你怎樣看同性婚姻合法化?" 其實他問那麼具有爭儀性的問题, 我覺得對加洲小姐真的有點不公平, 她怎樣回答也會有人不高興, 可是她毫不猶豫便答, "我個人覺得婚姻是一男一女的事, 若我的意見讓你不安, 我抱歉."

那一刻, 加洲小姐應該蛮有壓力, 尤其是最近幾年, 潮流興講人權, 很多荷里活大明星都因此支持同性婚姻合法化, 相信當晚的觀眾也一樣. 還有, 她明知評判想聽到的答案是甚麽, 但她還選擇真誠地回答問题, 没有放棄了她的立場. 最後, 她得到了亞軍.

我不知道加洲小姐是否有信仰, 是與否不要緊, 她面對公眾壓力而不出賣自己的信仰或立場, 是值得我們學習和敬佩的.

A true story that touched our hearts

Love people, love God

一個人是否愛主，不在乎於他對宗教活動有多熱衷，而是在乎於他對人有多少愛。

基督徙要像耶穌

基督徙要像耶穌，就必須學會寛恕，因為耶穌在十字架上爲我們做的，就是寛恕。

Faith, Hope & Love 信望愛

我相信，我渴望，我能愛，因為遇到你。

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Notes for this week

今週筆記

1. http://www.4shared.com/file/206360511/f8c0f99e/Faith-Hope-Love.html

與基督的愛情長跑

《三十多年了》，三十多年前我經已立志要追隨基督要成為一個基督徒，這個願望終於在今年的復活節慶典中實現了。回想在領洗前的第二次避靜中我向代父Alex 說：「這個還是罪人的我，有否資格去領受這個神聖的洗禮呢？」他想了一想便回答說：「每個人在主的面前都是罪人，衪目的就是要拯救罪人，如果要等到罪人成了義人才去領洗，那又有誰可以做到呢？」那時我想到主耶穌的一句說話：「我不是來召義人，而是來召罪人。」這句話就使我接受了這份「不配受的福氣」。

在典禮中我看到祭臺下的每位教友都正在祝福我們，這一刻的我非常感動，在他們當中我看到我太太正在抹眼淚，到了典禮完成後我牵着她的手問：「妳為可哭起來呢？」她回答說：「你等了幾十年的心願今天終於達成了，我看到你受洗的一刻就像是一個新生命的誕生使我非常感動，所以........。」我想了一想用手提起了我卦在頸上的基督苦像說：「不是我等了幾十年，而是我的主耶穌等了我幾十年。」在信主的路途上並非平坦，這三十多年間我曾經多次跌倒，當中也曾對衪有所懷疑，也試過迷失，真的辜負了衪對我的愛，但衪一直在我身邊伴着我，等着我，對我不離不棄。

在往後的日子裏我一定要做好自己，好好珍惜這份純潔的「愛情」，因為基督耶穌已奪得了我。

Facebook RCIA Group

Hi everyone, are you on Facebook? If yes, a couple of the RCIA alumni (Vicky Chan and David Chingtai Wong) have created an RCIA alumni group for us to join. If you're on Facebook, find and add me. Then I can direct you to that group. =)

对不起, 昨晚没时间把间体字转到繁体!

烦惱慢慢離開我

今晚校長提及我们每人都有十字架要负, 因人生是少不免烦惱的, 但我相信路上有耶稣陪同我们一起走, 十字架也可能輕一点.

我本人最怕烦, 却偏偏工作上要聽别人的问题. 但最近好像多了爱心, 而"烦"和"怒"慢慢從我生命裡消失. 现在主動去了解病人的问题, 是因为多了關心和爱護他们, 花多一点时间也無所謂. 典型的紧张大師麻烦友病人来了, 不断地问问题, 我也没有觉得烦或發怒, 慢慢回答他们的问题, 當然過了时我要送他们出去 (免得其他病人等得太久嘛), 可是我现在懂得用和善的態度送他们走. 其實我發覺, 當我讓病人知道我是真心地对待他们, 再麻烦的病人也變得輕鬆了, 而他们开始信任我, 就不会问那么多问题! 现在每天上班都覺得蛮有满足感, 很开心, 唉...为什么老早不懂這样做呢?

对父母也是一样. 如果他们要我帮忙做一些他们本應能瓣到的事时, 我现在不会烦或發脾气, 不会说他们應该諒解我已经很忙, 还要我替他们瓣一些無聊的事情. 对, 他们明明是炸型, 但我现在明白这是他们想接近我的方式, 我帮他们做事, 就是我用爱来回敬他们. 我亦要自我反省, 是不是没有盡我所能陪他们, 讓他们缺少了安全感. 近年来真的盡量陪父母, 他们也感受到我对他们的爱是無条件的, 最近也少炸型了!

真的要感谢天主, 讓我懂得怎样去爱别人, 因此我生命裡多了很多安慰和意義, 少了烦惱. 遇到问题也不怕. 我的好友告诉我, 其實天主不会叫你做一些你做不到的事情, 只要你信赖祂, 你自然有能力面对所有的困难.

This is one of my favourite songs, very beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dVE6hSh8uw


Here I am - Lord


I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.

I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
(Chorus)

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?
(Chorus)

I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will send the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.

Finest bread I will provide,
'Til their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?
(Chorus)


Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart

CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!! WE ARE ONE BIG FAMILY IN CHRIST!!

I was very excited during the Holy Week, just like a child peep into adult world, the curtains are slowly opened, many things to see, many things to learn, not knowing what will happen next.

On the night of Holy Thursday, I was deeply touched when Father knelt down to start the washing of disciple's feet just like Jesus did at the last supper, I could not hold my tears.

Then I attended the Sunday Mass with my new title - a Catholic, unexpectedly I cried again when I heard the song You Raise Me Up, reminded me of my mother who passed last April, but in the meantime, I remember the poem "Footprints in the Sand", I know that God is always with me, I feel being loved and so blessed that I have answered to His calling.

Brothers and sisters, we all have answered to God's calling, so pray to God everyday, we stay together, support each other in the future even though our class will end in June.

God bless each of you.

Our Big Night

Finally...it is done! Christ is Risen!

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we now enter a new chapter in our lives. Last night... actually... the entire RCIA year leading up to our big night will forever be embedded in my memory.

It has been a very emotional Holy Week for me. Years of medical training were nothing compared to one short week! Actually, the emotional ride began for me on April 2, when I did my first Confession. What I feared to be a scary and torturous experience, turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to reveal my true self to God and become closer to Him.

I then started a Novena to the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ, for the deepening of my faith and the hope that my family will get the "calling" as well. Like many others, I initially saw the prayer as just a bunch of repetitions. How can saying the same line over and over again be meaningful? Little did I know how powerful this kind of praying can be. I began to cry just after the second time I recited "for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world." I truly "got into" the prayer, realizing what it really means for Christ to suffer and die for us, in order to atone our sins.

I haven't been able to stop the tears since. The worst was Holy Thursday! It was really special to sit with you all at church, reliving the events that took place at the Last Supper. The most touching part was the washing of the disciples' feet, hearing Jesus' parting words, to urge us to love one another as He has loved us. To love, we must serve. These words were all the more powerful in the hymn "As I Have Done For You". I promised myself that, in the future, every time I get frustrated, I will stop and sing this song in my mind, to remind myself what I ought to do in this life -- to serve.

Good Friday was just as emotional. It was like going to a funeral. I am trained to be unfazed by most things: pus, blood, excrement, pain and death. Yet the sight of a chunk of wood made my eyes overflow with tears. (But I found out that if you just let the tears roll down your face without closing your eyes, the mascara won't smudge...)

Then came the big day -- April 11, 2009. Words cannot describe how joyful I felt watching each one of you walk up to the altar. I looked at everyone, and thought about how we were all strangers back in September. Now we are on the same journey together, as brothers and sisters. I feel so blessed to be in your company.

My friend (who is atheist) told me the other day, when she watched a You Tube video on the Divine Mercy Novena, she had a "feeling". I know exactly what that feeling is. I had the same feeling last summer and it prompted me to join RCIA. I am sure all of you did as well. I wonder what your stories are. I hope that someday, I will learn all of your stories, to hear about what God did in His divine plan for all of us.

We have reached a milestone, and yet this is only the beginning. We all have much to learn, and I hope that we will continue to help each other on this journey. I'd like to share with you a very special song -- people probably use it for weddings but to me, it sums up how we are now all servants for each other, and most importantly, of Our Lord.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_wMO5KxeAI&feature=related

Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the Grace
To let you be my servant too

We are pilgrims on a journey
We are travellers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load

I will hold the Christ light for you
In the night time of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear

I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh I'll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
'Til we've seen this journey through

When we sing to God in heaven
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we've known together
Of Christ's love and agony

Baptism

Through baptism last night, not only I turn a new page of my life, but also a continuation of the one I love and miss by having the same holy name, same priest, same church and same sponsor.

Thanks be to God

Confession

Do you remember when you were young, your parents would make you say sorry for something bad that you’ve done? Perhaps as a parent now, you teach your children the same. This is in order that they realize what they’ve done is wrong, and hopefully they will not repeat the same mistake.

For the same reason, we go to Confession. How come it seems so much more difficult for adults to say sorry now, than when they were children? As I wrote earlier, I had gone for my very first Confession a few days ago. I was very scared beforehand, partly because it was a completely new thing to me, and also because I had to contemplate all the things that I have done wrong, and I was ashamed. I tell you, human pride has a lot to do with it as well. We may know our sins, but we are often too proud to admit them, even to ourselves. Worse yet, human pride might even tell us that what we’ve done isn’t so bad, so why the need to repent? Well, in the end, I had a wonderful Confession with the priest – it was a critical moment for me – I realized that it was actually a very positive and liberating experience to purge my sins, and I had the opportunity to feel God’s boundless love and mercy for us.

I had discussed this experience briefly with my parents. They also had not gone for Confession in a very long time. My mother told me that she doesn’t think she needs to, because she can repent her sins to God in her heart. I thought about this and wanted to know why this is not right. My own explanation is this – if someone has wronged or hurt you, do you think it’s alright for him to just be sorry in his heart, and not say sorry to your face? In the same way, we have hurt God often with our faults, and we owe it to Him to actually repent our sins in Confession.

Now some would say, God is everywhere and God is all-knowing. If I repent my sins in my heart, He must surely be able to hear me. No need to go to a priest. Well, in the same parallel, if the person who has hurt you just tells a mutual friend that he is regretful, and assumes that you will hear about it from your mutual friend, wouldn’t it still upset you that he doesn’t bother to apologize to you in person? What is the problem here? It is his attitude, isn’t it? Whether it be pride, cowardice, or laziness, it still comes across as a lack of respect. In the same way, if we just repent in our hearts, we do not respect God.

To be honest, if you just repent in your heart, it would not be to the same extent as if you talk about it out loud, in person with a priest, and have a discussion about it anyways. Then you will do it less and less frequently, and let it slide.

During this Holy Week, may we all look deeply into ourselves, reflect upon our sins and be truly sorry for them. May we also be deep in prayer, and remember the agony that Jesus Christ endured, even to His death, so that our sins may be washed away.

Mercy

Something just dawned on me. Actually, I should have realized it a long time ago, but I didn’t make the connection until now.

I started a Novena 3 days ago, to the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ. My intentions are for the deepening & strengthening of my faith, and I also pray that my family will hear the call from God and be drawn closer to Him. (Hey…so far, it seems to be working but ssshhh!!!)

So, I read up on the Divine Mercy Devotion on this website:
http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/mercy/backgr.htm

It talks about God’s love being boundless, and that He is merciful and forgiving to all. It also tells us that we, too, need to show mercy and forgiveness to others. This may be nothing new to you or me. However, have you ever thought about this – that when we ask the Lord to have mercy on us, how does He shower us with mercy? He doesn’t dump it onto us from the heavens like so much rain or snow. What form does mercy come in?

I believe that we are the instruments of God’s mercy onto the world. It is through us, via our forgiveness and kindness unto others, that God blesses the world with His mercy. We all know that we should try to be kind to one another, but perhaps now, at least for me, it is for more than altruistic reasons. We love each other not only for the sake of goodness, but also because we become channels of God’s mercy.

I feel kind of stupid that I didn’t make this connection before. Duh. So from now on, during Sunday Mass, when we sing “Lord have mercy”, I will remember that it’s a two-way street – that not only am I asking God for mercy, I have to remember to always give it as well.

Holy Week 聖週 2009-4-01

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Notes for this week
今週筆記

1. http://www.4shared.com/file/206354843/aba31223/Holyweek_-_Notes.html
   

Contemplation before Easter

As we approach Holy Week, and my upcoming Confirmation, I am deep in thoughts about my faith, and what it means to me.

My Confirmation is a big deal to me. In a way, I feel like I am getting married that day. I am prepared to give my entire self to God, and I dedicate my life to Him. This relationship I have with God is a blessing, but it also comes with many responsibilities, much like marriage. It is a promise, a covenant, which I do not take lightly at all.

I want to enter this relationship with a clean heart and soul. Therefore, I have to go for my very first Confession. I was baptized as a baby, so I have 38 years of sins to confess! In preparation for my Confession, I need to examine my conscience. I know my faults and my sins, and I know what I should do to overcome them, but do you know what scares me the most? That, in order to do it – and I do want to – I have to overhaul my life. I have to be conscious of every aspect of my lifestyle, and institute changes despite what my peers will think of or say to me. I have to break old habits. I have to put in more time and effort to change my ways. In other words, I have to get out of my comfort zone.

For example, as a Catholic physician, I know I should not prescribe the birth control pill. Instead, I should counsel my patients on the benefits of abstinence if they are single, or teach my married patients methods like timing. If I do that, it will completely change the way I practice, the way I manage time in the office, and I’m sure I will never hear the end of it from my patients and my colleagues. It would be so much easier just to write the prescription…. But no. That would be a quick fix. In the end, I have to choose between God and my comfort zone. I have to decide between what I know is right as a Catholic, and what is easy or convenient.

It is clear what the answer is. Of course I choose God. But the road is not so easy, and this is something that I am thinking long and hard about during my examination of my conscience. Perhaps this is a question for all Christians… How willing are we to give up our comfort zone, to rip apart and change our lives, to go against the grain, to ignore pressure or criticism from our peers, in order to follow God? How faithful will we be as His servants? Can we really put God above all else, just like it says in the First Commandment?

I now truly realize that this journey of faith is not going to be a smooth road. It will have many obstacles, and it will probably be a lonely one. How many of us can say that we are surrounded by other faithful Catholics? A lot of us are probably going through RCIA on our own, without the support of family or friends. So this is where faith comes in. We have to put our trust in God, and pray to Him always for strength and guidance. At the end of the road lies the Kingdom of Heaven. We have to keep that in sight and well, just suck up the rest, I suppose. Thank goodness there are prayer groups and bible studies.

So I ask myself, what do I want out of all this? It is not peace of mind, or comfort, or recognition. I sincerely want to become an instrument of God, and serve Him in all of my days. I realize that I am not born a perfect instrument. I need to let God carve and sand me, so that some day, I can make beautiful music in His name. I am prepared to be put through the mill.

I realize my sins. I am truly and deeply sorry, and I am ready to repent. I am ready to accept God and all the changes that will come into my life. I am scared but I am ready. Lord give me strength.